We appreciate kumbaya moments as much as anyone, but we must not let lofty dreams of unity distract from the serious task at hand following the assassination attempt on former President Trump last Saturday. There are a number of puzzling aspects to it that, if not credibly explored, could provide grist for the mills of conspiracy theorists and make matters worse. Indeed, some are already at work exploiting what is now unexplained.
We had rather thought that Secret Service protocol required a sweep of areas surrounding where the person to be protected was scheduled to be and from where he or she would be in sniper range. Yet the Trump shooter was armed with a rifle and perched on a roof top within 300 feet of the former president. And what’s more, at least three eyewitnesses told the FBI that they had observed the crouching gunman and so informed law enforcement on the scene. These same eyewitnesses also reported that, at some point, the gunman was in full view of officers and yet was able to get off eight shots at Mr. Trump before being shot himself.
There are also reports that the Trump Secret Service detail’s several requests of the Biden administration for more agents were summarily denied, arguably leaving him unnecessarily vulnerable.
And further, this all occurred in the context of incessant characterization of the former president as a “Hitler,” and “an existential threat to our democracy” and that, in President Biden’s doubtlessly metaphoric words, “We’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bulls eye.”
Parenthetically, this is not to say that former President Trump didn’t himself also criticize President Biden in apocalyptic terms – suggesting that the U.S. is doomed if Mr. Biden is reelected – though thankfully there have been no attempts on President Biden’s life. As the Wall Street Journal put it the other day, “The assassination attempt against Donald Trump on Saturday evening is a horrific moment for America that could have been much worse. But we can’t say it comes as a complete surprise. Political hostility and hateful rhetoric have been rising to a decibel level that far too often in the American past has led to violence and attempted murder….”
While President Biden was certainly not calling for an attack on Mr. Trump, a hostile perception of him was nonetheless advanced and cultivated. At all events, what concerns us is that some conspiracists have taken to social media to juxtapose the refusal to provide enhanced Secret Service protection with the demonization of candidate Trump and to suggest, fancifully we think and without any apparent evidence, that some in the Biden camp harbored some vague feeling that maybe lightning would strike and some lunatic would act “to save America” from him.
After the incident, both President Biden and former President Trump preached unity: President Biden said “We must unite as one nation, we must unite as one nation to demonstrate who we are.”
In the same vein, Mr. Trump said “It is more important than ever that we stand united, and show our true character as Americans, remaining strong and determined, and not allow evil to win.
However, when all is said and done, we all have an interest in a transparent investigation that can provide some answers as to how the tragedy unfolded the way it did. We should not allow conspiracy theorists to further exacerbate our fraught political system.
